PLO calls for Britain apology for Balfour

The PLO is launching a year-long campaign to force Great Britain to apologize for the "crime" of the Balfour Declaration.

Dalit Halevy, 31/10/16 22:16

Protest against peace talks at PLO offices in Ramallah

Issam Rimawi/Flash 90

The PLO's Department for Palestinian Affairs called for Palestinian Arab towns and organizations to hold events and activities marking 100 years since the Balfour Declaration.

The Nov. 2, 1917 Balfour Declaration was sent by British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour to Jewish leader Walter Rothschild, to be delivered to the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland. It read:

"His Majesty's government view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country."

Palestine was not the name of an Arab state, but the ancient name given by the Roman Empire to the area south of Syria reaching from the Mediterranean to the Arabian Sea.

The message on behalf of the PLO emphasized that the events and activities would help the Palestinian Arabs correct the "historic injustice" of the Balfour Declaration.

Palestinian Arab communities around the world will begin holding events to mark the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration on November 2, 2016, and continue to do so until November 2, 2017, as part of a propaganda campaign to garner international support for the Palestinian Arab cause.

One the campaign's main goals is to force Great Britain to apologize for the "crime" of the Balfour Declaration. They have gone so far as to threaten to sue Britain over the 99 year old document. Some left-wing British politicians, such as Baroness Jenny Tonge, agree with the Arab position that Britain should apologize for the Balfour Declaration.